28 March 2012

Now I'm sewing more, or at least have plans to, I went to the half price sale at the local fabric shop. Awesome huh! But that meant that I needed to sort through everything I had to make sure I knew what I had and could get inspired!

Its in the built in wardrobe of my sewing room/study. Going back to uni means I'm going to have to keep it more under wraps too, so I can concentrate on work and not pleasure!

The box at the bottom has upholstery fabric and a bag of scraps.

The upholstry fabric is destined to be some cushions for the garden seating. I've had it for a year though, and haven't quite got around to it yet!

The we have a stash of meshes and netting. I love the blue one- its all glittery!

Knits! The one with the dots is going to end up as a wrap top, and the stripes will be tshirts.

Cottons and poplins. These are mainly for muslins and linings.

Assorted others.

The dots are velour- its going to become the perfect PJs. Perfect for me, maybe not perfect in sewing skill!

21 March 2012

So here in Perth, its Autumn. Still warm in the day, but crisp first thing in the morning.

I L.O.V.E Autumn!

But in the blogosphere, its Spring Top time!

I've watched the last few years of spring top month from afar, without the skills to really contemplate joining in. But This year I'm up for the challenge.

I also have a lot of time on my hands, due to whats hopefully a minor blip in a long road.

So I've hit the stash that was meant to become spring tops back in the spring!

My first entry is this blue and yellow sleeveless number. The top half is lined, as the fabric is thin *and* has holes in it! Its loosely based on cap sleeve bodice on burda, mostly to be sure it fitted across the bust. I squared up the neckline, added the cut out at the back, and the patch/placket thing at the front. This was my first time attempting bias tape, so its not perfect, but passable.

See the issue? But you've got to learn somehow :D

One of my aims for this round of sewing is to try and make everything look good on the inside as well as the outside, so no raw edges!

This one is has french seams and lined openings.

Its bright and cheerful and I love it.

It took me about 4 hours from sitting down to cut to sewing on the last button.

19 March 2012

I saw this material and loved it. I’ve wanted to make a shift dress for a while, as all my other projects have been waisted. The pattern is based on 60s-dress-by-alexandra on Burda.

I like the back neck line. Next time I’ll probably make it more prominent, as it is in the pattern. I made it about 1 size larger, and moved the darts down to fit better. I left the sleeves off.

I made a boo-boo doing the cutting, as I couldn't simply cut on the fold as I don’t have quite enough fabric for the placement I wanted on the front, so ended up cutting two left hand backs. Ooops! I didn’t have much material to work with, but instead cut off the top with the armholes, and added a pannel that had the flowers running horizontally. I think it worked OK!

I think its a bit short :) and I might change the buttons. But I think its a good base to start from!